Goodwill and Intangible Assets Disclosure [Text Block]

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2017

Notes

Goodwill and Intangible Assets Disclosure

Note 8.Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets 

Changes in goodwill and goodwill balances by reportable segment are as follows for the periods indicated (in thousands):

		Specialty
		Health		Total
Balance at December 31, 2015	$	47,276	$	47,276
Sale of subsidiary/business (see Note 7)		(5,703)		(5,703)
Balance at December 31, 2016		41,573		41,573
Acquisition (see Note 7)		9,124		9,124
Balance at December 31, 2017	$	50,697	$	50,697

The Company has net other intangible assets of $14,669,000 and $10,122,000 at December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively, which are included in other assets in the Consolidated Balance Sheets. These intangible assets consist of: (i) finite-lived intangible assets, principally the fair value of acquired agent and broker relationships, which are subject to amortization; and (ii) indefinite-lived intangible assets which consist of the estimated fair value of insurance licenses that are not subject to amortization.

The gross carrying amounts of these other intangible assets are as follows for the periods indicated (in thousands):

		December 31, 2017				December 31, 2016
		Gross				Gross
		Carrying		Accumulated		Carrying		Accumulated
		Amount		Amortization		Amount		Amortization
Finite-lived Intangible Assets:
Agent and broker relationships	$	17,253	$	12,140	$	13,052	$	11,882
Domain		1,000		125		1,000		25
Software systems		780		76		-		-
Total finite-lived	$	19,033	$	12,341	$	14,052	$	11,907

		December 31,
		2017		2016
Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets:
Insurance licenses	$	7,977	$	7,977
Total indefinite-lived	$	7,977	$	7,977

Changes in net other intangible assets are as follows for the periods indicated (in thousands):

		2017		2016		2015
Balance at beginning of year	$	10,122	$	14,598	$	10,620
Intangible assets acquired (see Note 7)		5,880		1,000		5,500
Sale of subsidiaries/businesses (see Note 7)		-		(4,233)		(122)
Amortization expense		(1,333)		(1,243)		(1,400)
Balance at end of year	$	14,669	$	10,122	$	14,598

As discussed in Note 7, in connection with the acquisition of PetPartners in 2017, the Company recorded $9,124,000 of goodwill and $5,880,000 of intangible assets associated with the Specialty Health segment. None of the goodwill is deductible for income tax purposes. The intangible assets primarily represent the fair value of customer relationships and are being amortized over a weighted average period of 9.6 years.

Estimated amortization expense for each of the next five years is as follows (in thousands):

		Amortization
Year		Expense
2018	$	1,506
2019		1,138
2020		862
2021		667
2022		579